Emergency Inspection Called by NTSB for Bell 407 Helicopters

The board urged the FAA and Transport Canada to order examination of tail boom assemblies.

Meg Godlewski

Friday, December 02, 2022 at 05:07 PM ET

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Bell 407 [Credit: Bell Helicopter]

Key Takeaways:

The NTSB is urging immediate and more frequent inspections of Bell 407 helicopters after a June accident in Hawaii involving a tour helicopter.
The crash involved the inflight separation of the tail boom, which investigations attributed to missing or fractured attachment hardware.
The NTSB recommends U.S. and Canadian regulators require an immediate inspection of tail boom attachment hardware and reduce the current 300-hour inspection interval to prevent catastrophic failures.

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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is urging immediate and more frequent inspections of Bell 407 helicopters stemming from an accident that took place in Hawaii in June involving a tour helicopter.

The recommendation issued Friday asks both U.S. and Canadian aviation regulators to require both immediate and more frequent inspections of certain components on Bell Textron Inc.’s Bell 407 helicopters.